SAUDI KING GRANTS 30 WOMEN SEATS ON ADVISORY COUNCIL

Rights advocates have demanded the kingdom give women more of a voice as many step up challenges to the country’s religious establishment, which adheres to Wahhabism, one of the strictest interpretations of Shariah law in Islam. Several women defied a ban in the kingdom on driving last year.

Wahhabism, well known for its adherence to strict segregation of the sexes, insists on ideological purity and calls for punishments, such as beheadings and hand amputations, for specific crimes. Under the law, clerics sit as judges in courts and religious police prevent single or unrelated men and women from mixing.

In the kingdom, unrelated couples, for example, can be punished for being alone in the same car or having a cup of coffee in public. Many Saudis observe such segregation even at home, where they have separate living rooms for male and female guests.

In 2009, King Abdullah inaugurated the first university where male and female students share classes. He also granted women the right to run for office in the 2015 municipal elections, which is the only open election in the country. Women will not need a male guardian’s approval to run or vote.